Tales from the Emergency Department; in which a man who wallows in nostalgia, and secretly wishes he were a Victorian KnifeMan rants about his work and what passes for a life.
He's heard it might be therapeutic...
Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Any resemblence to parties alive or dead is purely coincidental

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Interlude: Referral Politics 2

So: the last of the epic tales of my on call.

I knew I'd be late on the floor; 2 down and busy, no way was I getting off on time. Half two in the morning is close to my limit. If there are sick patients, well, strap on when it seems apt, but if its just busy...

As I was preparing to escape, I was introduced o one of my absolute favourite ED dilemmas. The 'problem' patient that no-one will admit, or discharge. Typically, this will be someone well known to one service, or more than one, with a chronic problem. They inevitably attend out of hours, with a flare of their problem, usually requiring strong painkillers.

In this case, the problem was abdominal pain. Surgical review diagnosed "not a surgical problem' with a plan of "refer medics'. But of course, the surgeon couldn't possible make that referral. Since the problem is "not surgical", the patient reverts to us.

Medical review resulted in a diagnosis of "not a medical problem", with a proposed plan of "have the surgeons admit, and we'll review"

This backing and forthing can go on for days.

It is a waste of everyone's time, especially my registrar's.

Usually, a polite call is enough. It makes sense for the two specialities to talk to each other, and agree a mutually acceptable plan, or discharge the patient.

Being a consultant, it has the added advantage that I can always suggest if they don't want to talk, I'll call their bosses in, and we three consultants can review the patient at the bedside, and agree a plan. After all, I'm still here at 3 a.m., I'm sure their bosses wouldn't mind coming in to join me?

Well, I left them talking, which doesn't guarantee resolution, of course.

Legal Disclaimer

All the patient details reperesented here are composite. The details of my movements and activities are as accurate as I can make them, but the rest is largely made up. The Shroom's opinions do not represent those of the NHS at large, and should not be taken as a substitute for seeing a proper doctor. Lastly, and for what its worth, all the material herein is copyright The Shroom, and I reserve the right to send large bald men to your place of residence if you reproduce it without permission.